1. Realizing Concurrency using the thread model
B. Ramamurthy
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

2. Introduction
A thread refers to a thread of control flow: an independent sequence of execution of program code.
Threads are powerful. As with most powerful tools, if they are not used appropriately thread programming may be inefficient.
Thread programming has become viable solution for many problems with the advent of multi-core processors
Typically these problems are expected to handle many requests simultaneously. Example: multi-media, games, automotive embedded systems
Especially relevant to embedded system with the proliferation of multi-core processors
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

3. Topics to be Covered Objectives What are Threads?
Thread implementation models
POSIX threads
Creating threads
Using threads
Summary
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

4. Objectives To understand the thread model for realizing concurrency
To study POSIX standard for threads called the Pthreads.
To study thread control primitives for creation, termination, join, synchronization, concurrency, and scheduling.
To learn to design multi-threaded applications.
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

5. The Thread Model
(a) Three processes each with one thread (b) One process with three threads
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

6. Per process vs per thread items
Items shared by all threads in a process
Items private to each thread
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5/10/2013

7. Implementing Threads in User Space
A user-level threads package
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

8. Implementing Threads in the Kernel
A threads package managed by the kernel
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

9. Hybrid Implementations
Multiplexing user-level threads onto kernel- level threads
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

10. Scheduler Activations
Goal – mimic functionality of kernel threads
gain performance of user space threads
Avoids unnecessary user/kernel transitions
Kernel assigns virtual processors to each process
lets runtime system allocate threads to processors
Problem: Fundamental reliance on kernel (lower layer)
calling procedures in user space (higher layer)
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

11. Pop-Up Threads 5/10/2013 Amrita-UB-MSES-2013-7
Creation of a new thread when message arrives
(a) before message arrives
(b) after message arrives
Thread pools
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

12. Thread Scheduling (1) B1, B2, B3 5/10/2013 Amrita-UB-MSES-2013-7
Possible scheduling of user-level threads
50-msec process quantum
threads run 5 msec/CPU burst
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

13. Thread Scheduling (2) Possible scheduling of kernel-level threads
B1, B2, B3
Possible scheduling of kernel-level threads
50-msec process quantum
threads run 5 msec/CPU burst
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

14. Thread as a unit of work
A thread is a unit of work to a CPU. It is strand of control flow.
A traditional UNIX process has a single thread that has sole possession of the process’s memory and resources.
Threads within a process are scheduled and execute independently.
Many threads may share the same address space.
Each thread has its own private attributes: stack, program counter and register context.
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

15. Pthread Library
Many thread models emerged: Solaris threads, win-32 threads
A POSIX standard (IEEE c) API for thread creation and synchronization.
API specifies behavior of the thread library, implementation is up to development of the library.
Simply a collection of C functions.
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

16. Posix Library Implementation in F. Mueller’s Paper
Language Application
Language Interface
C Language Application
Posix thread library
Unix libraries
User Level
Unix Kernel
Kernel Level
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

17. Creating threads Always include pthread library:
#include <pthread.h>
int pthread_create (pthread_t *tp, const pthread_attr_t * attr, void *(* start_routine)(void *), void *arg);
This creates a new thread of control that calls the function start_routine.
It returns a zero if the creation is successful, and thread id in tp (first parameter).
attr is to modify the attributes of the new thread. If it is NULL default attributes are used.
The arg is passing arguments to the thread function.
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

18. Using threads
1. Declare a variable of type pthread_t 2. Define a function to be executed by the thread. 3. Create the thread using pthread_create Make sure creation is successful by checking the return value. 4. Pass any arguments need through’ arg (packing and unpacking arg list necessary.) 5. #include <pthread.h> at the top of your header. 6. Compile: g++ -o executable file.cc -lpthread
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

19. Thread’s local data
Variables declared within a thread (function) are called local data.
Local (automatic) data associated with a thread are allocated on the stack. So these may be deallocated when a thread returns.
So don’t plan on using locally declared variables for returning arguments. Plan to pass the arguments thru argument list passed from the caller or initiator of the thread.
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

20. Thread termination (destruction)
Implicit : Simply returning from the function executed by the thread terminates the thread. In this case thread’s completion status is set to the return value.
Explicit : Use thread_exit.
Prototype: void thread_exit(void *status);
The single pointer value in status is available to the threads waiting for this thread.
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

21. Waiting for thread exit
int pthread_join (pthread_t tid, void * *statusp);
A call to this function makes a thread wait for another thread whose thread id is specified by tid in the above prototype.
When the thread specified by tid exits its completion status is stored and returned in statusp.
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013

22. Summary We looked at We will look at a pthread programming demo See
Implementation of threads.
thread-based concurrency.
Pthread programming
We will look at a pthread programming demo
See
Amrita-UB-MSES
5/10/2013